It took a Nueces County jury less than an hour on Tuesday to find Leonard Maurice Solomon guilty of murder in the 2016 death of Franco Bucato.

The trial has been ongoing in 117th District Judge Sandra Watts' court since last week.

Solomon, 35, was accused of working "alone or together" with co-defendant Rhonda Reyna and possible third person, according to his indictment. First Assistant District Attorney Matt Manning said Reyna, who is also charged with murder, accepted a plea deal and testified in Solomon's trial.

Reyna's plea deal stipulates she'll receive 10 years of probation deferred for a 10 year prison term, but she has not yet been sentenced, prosecutors said.

Bucato, 27, was found with several gunshot wounds in the 500 block of Nebraska Street in Robstown in late January 2016. Robstown Detective Gonzalo Jimenez has said several people were involved in the incident, escalating to Bucato's shooting.

Prosecutors allege Reyna and a group of people went out to a house in Robstown to confront another group of people that included Bucato. While out there, a fight broke out and Rhonda was hit by someone in attendance, Manning said.

As she was leaving, Reyna threatened to have her boyfriend, Solomon, come back, Manning said. Solomon later returned to the house in Robstown with a group of people and there was another confrontation, Manning said. He alleged Solomon shot Bucato during it.

Solomon faces as long as life in prison and as much as a $10,000 fine.

Family members of Bucato and Solomon took turns on the stand, testifying in the sentencing phase of the trial Tuesday afternoon. Afterward, attorneys made their final arguments to the jury before handing the case to them for deliberations on a sentence.

During the trial's sentencing phase, prosecutor Jared Horton asked the jury to hand down a 40-year prison sentence. He asked the jury to consider what was taken away from Bucato's family as a result of his killing.

Manning asked the jury to also consider the evidence from the trial's first phase.

"The facts that you judge this on are that (Solomon) got evidence his girlfriend had been beaten up and then he went ... out to Robstown and shot a man, in a ski mask," Manning said.

Solomon’s attorney Fred Jimenez asked for the minimum five-year prison term. He also asked the jury to consider the actions of Bucato and others allegedly there at the time of the incident when assessing a sentence.

”Because I still believe this would not have happened before the aggression of those individuals,” he told the jury when opening in the sentencing phase.

While closing, Jimenez said the men had a brick, knife and unknown object at the time of the incident. Prosecutors have disputed the idea Solomon was acting in self-defense.

The jury began deliberations Tuesday evening and is expected to resume Wednesday morning.

Gabriel Cramberg is wanted for suspicion of motion to revoke probation: assault family violence. Anyone with information should call Crime Stoppers at 361-888-8477. Contributed photo/Nueces County Sheriff's Office